COLTON – Special education employees at the Colton Joint Unified School District have a beef with their boss and Gil Navarro, a county school board member and student advocate.

The Association of Colton Educators, the district’s teachers union, says director of pupil personnel services Helen Rodriguez has ignored federal regulations that govern how education plans for students with disabilities are prepared.

Rather than bringing parents and a team of teachers, nurses, psychologists or other professional staff together to formulate such plans – which the association says is required by law – the association believes Rodriguez orders her staff to implement plans Navarro devises for the students he’s paid to represent.

The association also claims Rodriguez has created a hostile working environment and implemented major work changes without consulting employees.

“There was no opportunity for input from the staff,” said association President Karen Houck. “When (employees) did attempt to share it with her, she shut them down right away.”

Houck said Rodriguez has required school psychologists to test all second- and third-graders for the Gifted and Talented Education program at Navarro’s request. She said this has greatly increased workloads because the psychologists are already tasked with screening special education students to determine learning disorders.

Houck said Rodriguez has also moved teachers’ aides around without providing reason, which disrupts classes.

“When you have special needs kids and you alter their learning environment, it takes quite a while to get them back on track,” Houck said. “They’re sensitive to disruption.”

Rodriguez referred comment to district spokeswoman Katie Orloff, who declined to comment on personnel matters.

The association members said they have voiced their concerns to the school board and Superintendent James A. Downs, but that administrators have done nothing to alleviate their concerns.

But board member Marge Mendoza-Ware said the board is taking employee complaints seriously.

“The concerns have been brought to the attention of the board, and the board will investigate the concerns just as it would investigate any type of concerns brought to it,” she said.

Navarro called the association’s claims “ludicrous.”

“I’d like to see their proof,” he said. “They just don’t like the idea that I come up with good strategies that help the students.”

Navarro works as a paid advocate hired by parents who believe their children aren’t getting fairly treated by the education system. He advocates for seven district students enrolled in special education, which is part of the Pupil Personnel Services division.

He attends Individualized Educational Plan meetings for the students and voices his views on what educational plans would best suit them. These are the same meetings the association claims Rodriguez is undermining.

Navarro says employees don’t like that some of his ideas have increased their workloads, and that’s why they have a problem with him.

Georgene Dixon, a district curriculum program specialist who also represents special education employees for the association, says employees never had any of these problems until Rodriguez was hired in July.

“What’s it going to take for (the district) to do something?” she said.